"You either feel you belong or you don't. And once that sense is there it can't be given up, willed away or reasoned out of existence."

 

One of many. Davey Street, Hobart. March 2021.

Why Weren't We Told? by Henry Reynolds

This is an essential read for any Australian who still holds (what they perceive as) the benign view that Australia's foundation was a case of gritty settlement of an unoccupied land against the odds. Moreover, it challenges the notion that the fate of its Aboriginal occupants (however tragic) is primarily due to their primitivism rather than any specific colonial policy or action.

Why Weren't We Told? is an exciting and accessible history. The book serves as Reynolds' literary memoir of a journey from 'innocence' (believing the comfortable myth of Australia as one of heroic settlement) to understand the true horrors of invasion, dispossession and ongoing racism.

While I thought of myself as being quite across the realities of the Australian story, Reynolds has done a fabulous and thorough job in unpacking and interpreting the trends in historiography and highlight the distinct change in tone in the lead-up to Federation. It turns out that those writing in the nineteenth-century were far less squeamish about the brutal realities of the settlers’ interactions with native peoples.

The critical elements explored in the second and third sections of the book concern understanding the frontier's violence and the intricacies of native title, which has driven both the policy debate and public understanding on achieving something akin to true reconciliation.

The former - tracing the story-telling and public memory of violence - is fascinating and should be of interest to the lay-reader. The latter is an exploration of the legalities of terra nullius and the historical work that led to the High Court decisions in the cases Mabo v Queensland (No 1 and No 2) and Wik Peoples v Queensland.

Some will undoubtedly find the deep-dive into the legal cases' intricacies that led to several historic High Court judgements a little dry. Yet, understanding the logic that led to the dismissal of the legal fiction that Australia was uninhabited upon European arrival is an essential step towards recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' legal right to claim Native Title on their ancestral lands.

While I thought that I had a pretty good grasp of these cases, I realise that I had underestimated the work done by historians, legal scholars, and community leaders. This work exposes the great injustice that saw legal recognition granted to European squatters to occupy vast swathes of the country while at the same time dismiss any sense that Aboriginal peoples had any rights at all on their land. For mine, this was the most engaging and enlightening telling of this story that I'd read thus far.

It is also a reminder to anyone who doesn't already loathe the odious John Howard and the terrible damage that his crooked and amoral Government(s) have done to our country, and the many reasons that they should do so!

It is not hyperbole to say that Reynolds and his lifetime of work represent a revolution in historical understanding of black-white relations in Australia and destroyed the traditional understanding of the process of colonisation and has been critical to much of the progress made.

I highly recommend it!

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